Copper
How did copper become humanity's first metal?
Because copper is sometimes found pure in nature, it became the first metal humans worked; hammered copper objects about 10,000 years old were found at Çayönü in Anatolia.
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In three stops
Where were its atoms born?
Copper forms inside massive stars through slow neutron capture and in supernova explosions.
How did it form on Earth?
Copper is concentrated in the crust by minerals carried in hot water. Sometimes it occurs pure, as “native copper”, which is why it was one of the first metals people noticed.
What did humans make of it?
Hammered copper objects about 10,000 years old were found at Çayönü near Diyarbakır. About 7,000 years ago people learned to smelt copper from ore; adding tin made bronze and began the Bronze Age. Most electrical wiring today is copper, because it conducts electricity better than any metal except silver.
Did you know?
Copper slowly turns green in air. The colour of the Statue of Liberty is the colour of this thin surface layer (patina) on its copper skin.
See it in the journey: The first metal: copper (About 7,000 years ago) →